Strategic initiatives agency: Russia can adjust to foreign sanctions

GORKI, March 19, /ITAR-TASS/. The current international situation, connected with admission of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation, will negatively influence the investment climate but only in the short term, the head of Russia’s Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Andrey Nikitin, announced on Wednesday.

“In the systemic long-term prospect, we will only win,” Nikitin said after a meeting designed to stimulate economic activity in Russian regions, which was chaired by the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

“Those who will leave Russia, thrilled by some ‘horror stories’, will lose a lot because Russia is a country where you can make money indeed, and this is definitely true,” he said. “We will probably lose something in the near future. But money is like love - everyone wants a responsible and reliable partner.”

“And Russia is a country which establishes open and fair relationships,” he added.

As for possible economic sanctions from foreign partners, Nikitin said: “Russia will manage to adjust to them.”

“The world is not unipolar,” he said. “There is the Far East which we continue to develop. This will only give us a good shake. We will broaden the scope of business support and will be more target-oriented in certain things.”

The autonomous non-profit organisation called the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects was established in August 2011 in order to promote social and professional mobility of young professionals and teams in medium-sized businesses and the social sector by supporting socially significant projects and initiatives.